Redefining the Life of a Military Wife

02/02/2010

Deployments Causing Mental Health Problems for Army Wives

Well, I'll resist the urge to say "DUH!" and just applaud that the problems facing military spouses are being given some credibility by the medical community. God knows we're not getting any in the military community. How many times have you been called a whiner or complainer if you try to talk about the problems you're having? How many times have you essentially been told to suck it up if you try to talk about how hard things have been for you not just during deployment, but after? Happens to me almost daily. Good thing I have a big mouth and refuse to shut up. If I'm going to suffer then dammit, everyone is gonna know about it!!!!

Ok that was sarcasm, in case it didn't translate, but this is a real problem. Real families are suffering, and more and more wives are drowning everyday under the weight of the attitude that we should feel privileged to have soldier husbands and we should be honored to give for our country.

Well that's CRAP.

We give, and give, and give some more. And it's about time we got something back for it. Like the medical and mental health resources that we need to keep our sanity and marriages intact.

War isn't just tough on soldiers. Army wives whose husbands were
deployed have higher rates of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and
other mental health issues than the wives of soldiers who stayed home,
a new study shows.

Researchers looked at the medical records of more than 250,000
wives, accounting for most women married to active-duty U.S. Army
personnel.

Between 2003 and 2006, about 34 percent of the women's husbands
deployed for one to 11 months, 35 percent deployed for longer than 11
months, while 31 percent of soldiers were not sent overseas.

Among wives of soldiers deployed for up to 11 months, researchers
found almost 3,500 more diagnoses of depression, anxiety, sleep
disorders and other mental health issues than among wives who husbands
stayed home.

The more months a soldier was deployed, the greater the toll on his
wife. Among the wives of soldiers gone for longer than 11 months during
the four-year period, they found more than 5,300 additional diagnoses
of mental health issues.

"The wives of soldiers who are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are
experiencing greater mental health problems and have a greater need for
mental health services," said study author Alyssa Mansfield, a research
epidemiologist at RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C.,
who was at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, when she
conducted the research. "We also found the longer the [soldier] was
deployed, the more likely the spouse was to have a mental health
diagnosis."

The study findings are published in the Jan. 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.